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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28348191">Reverie — A Spellborne Collection</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystalliced/pseuds/The%20Firelight%20Magus'>The Firelight Magus (Crystalliced)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Spellborne [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, F/M, Fluff, Heartwarming, Practice Dates, Romance, Wholesome Friendship, playful</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 20:33:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>18,182</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28348191</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystalliced/pseuds/The%20Firelight%20Magus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of short stories, some canon-compliant and some not, from the world of Spellborne.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Spellborne [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1682548</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Directory</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26611312">Spellborne</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystalliced/pseuds/The%20Firelight%20Magus">The Firelight Magus (Crystalliced)</a>.
        </li>

    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><b>Reverie </b> (Chapters 2-4)<br/>Characters: <b>Yuki</b>, Mari, Sayaka, Leona, Setsuna<br/>Timeline: Act 4+<br/>Dimension: Approximately canon-compliant through Act 4. Major divergences afterwards.<br/>Genre: Romance<br/>Summary: Yuki requires date practice and turns to his beloved friends for assistance. <br/><b><br/></b> <b>Vibrancy </b> (Chapters 5-7)<br/>Characters: <b>Ren</b>, Setsuna<br/>Timeline: Act 1.3<br/>Dimension: Canon<br/>Genre: Romance<br/>Summary: She swept him off his feet without even trying. </p><p><b>Ayaka’s Antics</b> (Chapter 8) <br/>Characters: <b>Mari</b>, Ayaka, Kaede, Yuki <br/>Timeline: Act 1<br/>Dimension: Canon <br/>Genre: Humor, SoL <br/>Summary: Ayaka, being locked in the basement for much of the day, is naturally a bit mischievous. Thankfully, Mari isn’t alone in dealing with her.</p><p>
  <b>Bluebell Inferno</b>
  <span> (Chapter 9) </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Characters: </span>
  <b>Sayaka</b>
  <span>, Kiba, Rei </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Timeline: After Act 2.1</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Dimension: Canon </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Genre: Angst </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Summary: After her loss, Sayaka finds her resolve. </span>
</p><p><b>A Brief Oral History of Lunaria</b><span> (Chapters 10-13) </span><span><br/></span><span>Characters: Mari, Leona</span><span><br/></span><span>Timeline: After Act 4</span><span><br/></span><span>Dimension: Canon </span><span><br/></span><span>Genre: Informative/Humor </span><span><br/></span><span>Summary: Mari wants to document her knowledge, and Leona participates.</span><br/><br/>More to come!</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Breathlessly (Reverie, I)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Chapter 1: Mari<br/>Chapter 2: Sayaka<br/>Chapter 3: Leona</p><p>Spellborne AU — (mostly) canon-compliant up to the end of Act 4, and diverges in several ways immediately afterwards. To avoid spoilers, I won’t specify what these divergences are.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<h1>
  <b>Chapter 1: Mari</b>
</h1><p> </p><p>“So let me get this straight,” Mari said. “You want to ask Setsuna on a date, but you’re not sure how the whole process works?”</p><p>“Right so far,” Yuki agreed. </p><p>“And you’re asking me...to go on a practice date with you.” </p><p>“If you’re willing, of course.” </p><p>She contemplated it for a few moments, then shrugged. </p><p>“Why not, I guess?” </p><p>“Great. How’s tomorrow sound?"</p><p>...</p><p>It occurred to Yuki the morning after that he hadn’t actually fixed the problem of not knowing what to do on a date, and it was with a palpable sense of embarrassment that he went next door to tell Mari exactly that...</p><p>...only to meet her as she stepped out radiating a very similar aura. </p><p>“You haven’t dated anyone either, have you?” he realized. </p><p>“Leona wouldn’t help. She just laughed at me,” Mari said petulantly.  </p><p>He smiled at the thought. “Sorry, Mari, I don’t think this is going to work out between us.” </p><p>She looked surprised. “You’re — you’re breaking up with me? Was it something I did? But...we can work it out if we really try!” Her sorrowful words were ruined by the grin on her face, and it was enough to make him chuckle. </p><p>“I’ll come back to you, I think,” he offered, “if that’s okay with you?” </p><p>“Sounds good. Just let me know.” </p><p>“Great,” Yuki turned away, back towards his own home. “Oh, let Leona know while you’re at it, why don’t you? I’m sure she’ll be relieved.” </p><p>“Huh? Relieved? What do you mean by that?”</p><p>“See you later!” </p><p>“Hey, wait—” </p><p>...</p>
<h1>
<b>Chapter 1: </b><strike><b>Mari</b></strike><b> Sayaka </b>
</h1><p> </p><p>“I’m really disappointed in you, Yuki,” Sayaka crossed her arms, glaring at the boy on her walkway. “Here you are, trying to get dating experience, and you picked Mari — the girl who literally can’t touch people without the risk of knocking them unconscious — over me. I think I’m actually a little bit hurt.” </p><p>He shrugged. “She was next door.” </p><p>“I should turn you down.” </p><p>“You could,” he agreed, “but then you’d lose a chance to show me up at one of the few things you’re better than me at. But if you aren’t interested...” </p><p>He turned around and began walking away. </p><p>“Ten in the morning tomorrow. Ask Leona how to dress for a casual date, and wear longer socks.” </p><p>By the time he turned around again, she had already closed her door on him.</p><p>...</p><p>“That was fast,” Mari blinked, looking at the boy on her walkway. “Did she say no?” </p><p>“Well, no, but she sent me to Leona for the preparations. I may have made fun of her quite a bit in the process of asking.” </p><p>Mari smiled. “Come on in, then. Leona? Leonaaaa?” She wandered deeper into her house, Yuki closing the door behind him as he stepped in. </p><p>“What’s going on?” the magus in question yawned, stepping into the living room. “And can it go on later?”</p><p>“It’s — it’s noon,” Yuki said, blinking. </p><p>“I can see that,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “I was up until seven in the morning with a time-sensitive magical experiment.”</p><p>Leona Dawn, unlike just about everyone else in Alune, was a magus originating from Arcacia, and Yuki’s sister in all but name and blood. Though she was generally an early riser, she also valued her sleep. Yuki knew this. </p><p>Unfortunately for her nap, though, he knew something else about her. “Weren’t you the one who told me you wanted to dress me up?”</p><p>“...alright, I’m listening.” </p><p>...</p><p>“Hey, Leona, look, Yuki actually has a nice butt.” </p><p>“I — I didn’t want to know that, Mari.” </p><p>“Don’t worry, yours is cute too.” </p><p>“I — you — what—” </p><p>“Careful, Mari, you might break her. She’s fragile.” </p><p>“Wanna take this outside, punk?! I’ll show you fragile!” </p><p>“I’ll pass. Ayaka just made some new flowers and I wouldn’t want to ruin them as I toss you around the backyard.” </p><p>“Look here, you—” </p><p>“Hey, what about these pants?” </p><p>“Nah, too formal. Sayaka said casual, remember? With long socks? What is that girl...oh!” </p><p>“Huh? What is it? Did you figure something out?”</p><p>“Nope, can’t say.” </p><p>“This is hopeless. Yuki doesn’t have enough clothes for this.” </p><p>“You know what that means, then?”</p><p>“Shopping?”</p><p>“Yep.” </p><p>...</p><p>Six hours later, the two girls were finally satisfied as they walked Yuki back home, his clothes sealed into a scroll container at his hip. </p><p>Leona cheered. “We did it, Mari. We were able to pull off—” she grinned, “—something magical.” </p><p>Yuki groaned as Mari laughed brightly. </p><p>“Thanks for the help, I think,” he said. “It was rather expensive, all things considered, but...” </p><p>Sure enough, the two girls had gotten side-tracked frequently during their shopping spree, and had wound up spending ten times the amount he had...and then made him pay for it. </p><p>“But it was fun, though,” Leona said, eyes suspiciously bright, and what little irritation he felt vanished as he reached out and took one of her hands in his, Mari doing the same from her other side. </p><p>“Thanks, guys,” she mumbled, embarrassed. It hadn’t been that long since she’d needed to leave everyone she knew behind, and despite how much she pretended, it was impossible not to feel that pain at times. </p><p>“We’re here for you,” Mari said softly. </p><p>Leona smiled, eyes wet. </p><p>“Let’s go home and teach Yuki the rest of what he needs to know.” </p><p>...</p><p>Sayaka cocked her head, staring at him. </p><p>“You clean up surprisingly well,” she eventually admitted. </p><p>The blonde magus had kept things simple for him, opting to leave his hair in its natural, messy state. Covering his top was a dark grey blazer, opened at the front to reveal a fitted white undershirt. A dark brown belt held up black pants, and plain black shoes finished the look. </p><p>He chuckled. “Thank you. Leona did all the work. You look lovely, too.” </p><p>Sayaka was dressed in a white, short-sleeved top that showed off her shoulders and collarbone. A thin belt decorated with a gold ring held up a black skirt that fell to her thighs. Dark stockings covered up her legs, and surprisingly simple, practical brown shoes adorned her feet. A black choker accented her throat, the gold chain attached to it holding up a small sapphire gemstone resting at the intersection of her collarbone. </p><p>The blunette smirked. “They trained you well.”</p><p>“I’m serious.” </p><p>She huffed, but her true feelings were revealed by her faint blush as she stretched out her hand. “Well, come on, then.” </p><p>Yuki smiled and took her hand, their fingers lacing together easily as she led him down the streets. “Where to, then?” </p><p>“Well, in my experience, most dates are made up of three major phases, though depending on the situation, it might have as little as one. Typically, there’s some sort of activity, some kind of meal, and if the date goes well enough, there’s what you could call ‘post-date activity’. You can ask Setsuna about that last bit, when the time comes.” </p><p>“I don’t trust that expression you’re making right now.” </p><p>Sayaka smirked. “Anyways, you’ll want to plan around your date’s preferences as a general rule of thumb, though the best thing is to find something that both parties enjoy. People can see when you’re genuinely interested, and passion is attractive.” </p><p>“So all the times you took me out to eat ramen, that was ‘planning around my preferences’?” Yuki asked, grinning. </p><p>“Hah, no, that was you paying me back for all the shit you put me through in the Academy.” </p><p>“Fair point,” he conceded, “but in our case, that might be hard. Neither of us have much in the way of developed hobbies, and what we do have don’t intersect with each other at all.” </p><p>“You’d be surprised,” Sayaka said, a teasing lilt to her voice. </p><p>“What do drawing and archery have in common?” </p><p>“Yuki, Yuki, you’re asking the wrong question. What you should be asking is ‘what do you and drawing have in common’?”</p><p>“What? I don’t draw.” </p><p>The blunette giggled. “Try again.” </p><p>It took him a few seconds, but when he figured it out, Yuki stopped dead in the middle of the street.</p><p>“Seriously?” </p><p>“She keeps that particular artbook on her at all times...and you wouldn’t believe some of the stuff that girl comes up with.”</p><p>“Mmm...I’m not sure if I want to know.” </p><p>“Very vivid imagination.” </p><p>Yuki shook his head. “Anyways, since you were the one who planned this date, you must have planned it with all of that in mind. So what is it you think we have in common?” </p><p>Sayaka grinned smugly. “You’re easy to plan around.” </p><p>“I am?” </p><p>“Yeah. If I just smile at you and ask nicely, you’ll do whatever I want.” </p><p>He raised an eyebrow. “Really, now?” </p><p>She nodded, her expression uncharacteristically gentle. “Come on, Yuki. I’ve missed you, you know? Mari and Leona got to bond with you up in Arcacia, and you were already super close with Setsuna, so I’ve been feeling left out. Let me have this, please?” </p><p>Faced with that, Yuki could only answer one way— </p><p>“No.” </p><p>“I hate you.” </p><p>He grinned. “Fine, fine. Just what do you have in mind, then?” </p><p>“Well, we’re almost there,” she said cheerfully. “And I wouldn’t tell you even if we weren’t. It’s a surprise.” </p><p>“I hate surprises.” </p><p>“You’ll like this one. Have you ever been in this part of the Southern Outskirts?” </p><p>The Outskirts were the outermost ring of the state, and the largest, filled with bustling civilian sectors, large farms, and production centers. That being said, much of the architecture was still familiar to the two of them — the same Earthweavers who constructed their homes had also played a role in bringing up much of the architecture in the Outskirts. </p><p>Still, there was a notable difference. In the Inner Ring, where most of the Lunari lived, there were strict functional and structural requirements in part to ensure that the ‘highways’, aka the rooftops, were clear for movement. Though many of those restrictions still applied for that exact reason, many of the others did not, and so the Outskirts architecture had quite a bit more room for...creative freedom.</p><p>“No, I don’t think I have. Most of my work is more west of here.” </p><p>“Ohh, I see. My patrol routes are all around here, so this is sort of my territory,” Sayaka grinned. “Look, in a few seconds, there’ll be the pink house...there!” </p><p>“So there is.” </p><p>“They’re a weird family. I’ve talked to them a few times...not malicious, just disruptive. Very disruptive.” </p><p>“As disruptive as the couple Mari and I found our first time out together on patrol?” </p><p>Sayaka grinned. “Were they...?” </p><p>“Very loudly, yes.” </p><p>“What’d you guys wind up doing?” </p><p>“I would’ve cited them, but Mari just told them to hurry up and finish then get inside.” </p><p>“Heh. Remind me not to take anyone out while you’re on patrol.”</p><p>Yuki glanced at her, surprised and mildly scandalized, but she just smiled back brightly, pointing past him. </p><p>“We’re here. Look.” </p><p>Yuki followed her gesture, blinking in surprise at the sight. It was a fairly large, circular building created from a white material.</p><p>“Is that...snow?” </p><p>“Yep! Cool, right — ah, hell, did I just—? Leona’s been a terrible influence on me.” </p><p>He shook his head, amused, but focused back on the building. “It looks...unusual. Snow bricks? I didn’t even...how does this maintain its shape? And in the summer...?” </p><p>Sayaka grinned. “You’ll see. Follow me.”</p><p>Pulling on his hand, she took him around to the entrance, pushing open the wooden doors and ignoring the ‘Closed’ sign on it. Inside was something Yuki hadn’t ever seen before — on the outer edges of the building were bleachers, tables and chairs, and an area clearly designed to be some kind of lobby, but most of the building was an ice rink. </p><p>“Is this...ice-skating?” </p><p>“Mhm.” </p><p>“But...I’m an Ice Aberrant.” </p><p>“Believe it or not, I’ve noticed,” she said dryly, stopping to turn and face him. “But can you skate without mana? Besides, now that you’re an officially exempted Ice Aberrant, you can freely use it in combat, which means that I’ll need to be comfortable around it too, right? I can hardly think of a better place than this. And I’ve talked to the owner, and we pretty much have it to ourselves, though he’ll still be there to watch over it.” </p><p>“Huh. You’ve really thought of everything, haven’t you?” </p><p>“Yup. I even had a back-up plan for this in case something went wrong or you really didn’t like it, but if you try to back out now, I’m just going to annoy you until you give in and accept it.”</p><p>He chuckled. “You don’t have to do that. I’m the one asking you for the favor, aren’t I? I’m hardly going to turn you down.” </p><p>“Oh. Right.” Sayaka flushed violently, then abruptly spun around to keep moving through the rink. </p><p>Yuki snorted, following after her as she navigated around the wooden tables and chairs in what was apparently a small dining area. “A bit overeager, aren’t we?” </p><p>“Shut up.” </p><p>“Forgot it was a practice date?” </p><p>“I’m going to blast you through the wall.” </p><p>“Please do not damage the property,” an older, masculine voice spoke up from behind them. Surprised, they turned to see a short, balding man with white hair come out <em> from the wall </em>, traces of snow clinging to him as he stepped forward. He was dressed in simple clothing, utterly unsuited for the environment — thin white shirt, grey shorts—</p><p>Yuki made the connection instantly. “You must be a Snow Aberrant.” </p><p>Light blue eyes, a tad shader than Sayaka’s own, evaluated him. “Indeed, though not a Lunari. And you must be an Ice Aberrant.” </p><p>Yuki glanced sharply at his date, who shrugged back at him.</p><p>“I am,” he said cautiously. “Officially licensed, so there shouldn’t be any issue, right? I have my badge, if necessary.” </p><p>The man raised a hand. “You need not worry, though I hope that you were more circumspect about your secrets prior to your licensing. I could tell you were strange from the moment you walked in.” </p><p>“How so?” </p><p>“The young lady next to you immediately began channeling her mana to keep herself warm.” Sayaka nodded in agreement. “That is the natural reflex for just about any Manaweaver, and it often happens even without one’s notice. You did not — and the cold didn’t even make you hesitate.” </p><p>Yuki considered that for a moment. “Fascinating. And you say you aren’t a Lunari?” </p><p>The old man smiled. “I am merely an observer.” </p><p>“You retired early,” Yuki said, matter-of-factly. </p><p>This time, it was the old man’s turn to be surprised. “How did you know?” </p><p>The Iceweaver smiled. “I’ve seen many things, too.” </p><p>Sayaka rolled her eyes. “I hate to interrupt your fun, but...” she trailed off, looking at the Snowweaver pointedly. Yuki watched as the man’s gaze softened slightly as he turned to regard her. </p><p>“Indeed. I’ll bring out the skates. And everything else, as well.” </p><p>“Thank you, sir.” </p><p>With a nod, the old man moved back to the wall, sinking quickly into his snow. Yuki shifted forward and watched carefully, curious as to the technique, but there wasn’t much to see — he simply moved back and was absorbed before the snow shifted to form its customary bricks once again.</p><p><em> Was that like my own ice-phasing manaweaving? </em> he thought to himself, <em> or perhaps something new? Did it require a similar mindset? Snow and ice weren’t too dissimilar at all, so could he manipulate Ice, perhaps, with practice? I already knew that I could manipulate snow, but then again, Ice was one of the High Aberrants, so maybe—  </em></p><p>“Should I be worried that my date is going to get forgotten in the wake of the research ideas you’ve just come up with?” Sayaka asked from behind him. </p><p>“Sorry,” he said apologetically. “It’s hard not to be like this when Hikaru’s been my primary role model for most of the last four years and then some. And of course, Reverie Disorder—”</p><p>She laughed lightly. “I can understand that first part, at least. Still, though, you’ll...” her expression shifted in a way I didn’t know how to interpret. “You’ll want to keep your full attention on your partner. It shows that you appreciate and care about them.” </p><p>“Hmm, I don’t think that’ll be an issue with Setsuna and I. She’s about as prone to drifting off as I am when she gets into it, and she doesn’t even have my excuse.”</p><p>Sayaka stared at him flatly. </p><p>“What?” </p><p>Her lips shifted into a fond, if exasperated, smile. “Never change.” </p><p>Yuki shook his head, confused, then flinched as the old man stepped out from the snow bricks again, two pairs of skates held loosely in his hands. </p><p>“Here you go, young man, young lady,” he handed them over to the pair, “please enjoy your time here.” He glanced at Sayaka. “How long, do you think?”</p><p>“Hmm, probably three hours? I’ll let you know.” </p><p>“Understood.” Without another word, he abruptly phased back out. </p><p>“Three hours until what?” Yuki asked, confused. </p><p>“Until he brings us the food I asked for.” Sayaka sat down on one of the nearby chairs, and gestured at his feet. “Put the skates on. Do you need me to show you?” she asked teasingly.</p><p>“I think I’ll manage,” Yuki retorted, sitting down across from her and slipping his shoes off. “And you really have planned this out, haven’t you?”</p><p>“Of course I have,” Sayaka agreed, lacing her skates up. She smiled crookedly. “It shows you care about your partner, doesn’t it?” </p><p>Yuki grinned, bending his head to look at her as he slipped on his skates. “Aw, do you care about me?” </p><p>Sayaka looked at him, still smiling, but with all traces of humor gone. </p><p>“Yes.” </p><p>Yuki looked back down at his skates, uncertainty flooding through him. She brought her hand up, gently cupping his cheek as her expression softened. </p><p>“Don’t read too much into that. You already know how I feel, after all. Just enjoy yourself with me for a while, okay? For me?” she asked gently. </p><p>“Alright,” he agreed. </p><p>“Good,” she said, standing up unsteadily, and if her cheeks were a little redder than normal, neither of them commented on it. “Are your skates on? Yes? Good, let’s go.” </p><p>Yuki stood up, wobbling a little before he found his balance. His first step was awkward, but his second less so, and soon enough he was following Sayaka with relative ease. Searching for a safer topic, he eventually settled on, “do you skate often?” </p><p>“Oh, not often at all. I usually keep myself too busy to come out here, but the old man was one of the ones I helped out while on patrol, so I was familiar with the place. Couple punks came out and tried to set the walls on fire.” </p><p>“I imagine that didn’t end well for them.” </p><p>She chuckled. “You know what they say. Play with fire and eventually you’ll get burned.” She stepped onto the ice with her skates, wobbling slightly before keeping herself steady. Yuki narrowed his eyes. </p><p>“You’re using your Windweaving to keep yourself steady, aren’t you? I thought — gah!” Sayaka made a tugging motion, and a breeze slammed into his back, sending him stumbling onto the ice. He nearly fell before he instinctively lowered his center of gravity, drifting slowly across the ice. </p><p>“Not bad,” Sayaka clapped. </p><p>“If you knock me down, I’m taking you with me,” Yuki threatened, blue mana coalescing around his fingertips. </p><p>She grinned, skating away from him. “I dunno, can you even stand straight right now? I don’t think you could catch me if you tried.” </p><p>Recognizing the challenge for what it was, he took one step, then another, and frowned. </p><p>“How do you skate?” </p><p>The Windweaver laughed. “I don’t know, how do you—” she yelped, skating away as a bolt of blue mana sailed past her. </p><p>Yuki grinned. “Thanks for the tip.” </p><p>Her eyes widened in realization. “Oh, you sneaky—” </p><p>She yelped and fled as Yuki chased after her, and as he got used to the motion, got exponentially better. Soon enough, he was gaining on her as she darted around the rink. </p><p>“You aren’t as inexperienced as you implied, are you?” Yuki called out as she made a sharp turn that brought her out of his reach again. </p><p>She laughed. “No, I am! Look closer!” </p><p>Narrowing his eyes, he watched as she took another tight turn, her dress fluttering around her— </p><p>“Ah, you cheater, you’re using your mana, aren’t you? Compensating with micro-adjustments to fix your posture and movement?” </p><p>Sayaka grinned, cutting a long curve through the ice before transitioning into a quick pirouette. Her use of Wind was so intensive that the mana became visible, swirls of blue shimmering around her. </p><p>“You’re not the only one that can do that, you know!” </p><p>“Oh, but I’m <em> so </em> much better at it than you are! You can’t even come close to touching me!” </p><p>“We’ll see about that!” Yuki  grinned, drawing a short rod from his Ice. </p><p>Sayaka turned back and gasped. “Wait, you can’t — you can’t use anything but Ice Magic!” </p><p>Yuki smirked. “You think so, don’t you? Well—” </p><p>His mana was ready by then, and he promptly froze the blades of Sayaka’s skates into solid blocks of ice. </p><p>“What the fu—” Sayaka noticed instantly, but too late to correct her movement in time, and she promptly fell over, only her hasty mana shielding saving her from scrapes. </p><p>Yuki slowed to a stop, laughing hysterically at her, so she turned and launched a wave of Wind that swept his legs out from under him. </p><p>And things only escalated from there. </p><p>...</p><p>“You know,” Sayaka mumbled, rubbing her side, “I did say I wanted some combat practice around your Ice, but you could have pulled some of those punches.” </p><p>“I could have,” Yuki agreed, “but you had it coming after you slammed me into the ceiling.” </p><p>A few hours of combat later, the two of them had gotten off of the ice, taking their skates off. Yuki had offered to clean up the mess they had made of the ice, but the old man politely but firmly turned him down, offering them their food before directing them to sit down as he resurfaced the ice. </p><p>She grinned as she finished off her pretzel, courtesy of the old Snow Aberrant. “It was fun, though.” </p><p>“Yeah. It was.” </p><p>To her surprise, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She hesitated for a moment, then smiled and leaned into him. </p><p>“Thank you...” she whispered, almost too softly for him to hear. </p><p>“For what?” he asked, confused, but he didn’t receive an answer, and when he looked down, it was to find that she had fallen fast asleep.</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Starlight (Reverie, II)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Chapter 1: Sayaka<br/><b>Chapter 2: Mari</b><br/>Chapter 3: Leona</p><p>Spellborne AU — (mostly) canon-compliant up to the end of Act 4, and diverges in several ways immediately afterwards. To avoid spoilers, I won’t specify what these divergences are.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <b>Chapter 2: Mari</b>
</h1><p> </p><p>
  <span>A day later, Yuki knocked on the door to Mari’s house, dressed again in his (freshly-washed) ‘date outfit’. This time, Leona opened the door, with Mari nowhere in sight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A bit late, isn’t it?” Leona asked. “The sun’s already down.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Actually, that was sort of the point,” he said. “Sayaka’s date idea gave me some interesting ideas to work with, and I eventually settled on this.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, well, you better not bring Mari home unconscious,” the blonde magus said, narrowing her eyes at him. “Hey, should I be worried? Just what did you do to Sayaka?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smiled. “Threw her around for a few hours.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona paled. “Just so you know, I don’t want to be thrown around like that on our date.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh? Since when am I taking you on a date?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She crossed her arms. “You can’t seriously think that you’re going to get to take everyone out except for me, right?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I...guess not?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good,” she said brightly. “Don’t make any concrete plans. I like to be more...free-form.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright. Though I’m warning you now that I’ll turn you down immediately if you try to engage any ‘post-date activities’ with me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona cringed, then paused. “First of all, ew. Second of all, would that be, like, pseudo-incest?” she asked, sounding genuinely interested in the answer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t believe I’m saying this considering the kinds of people I hang out with, but you are so weird.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“From my perspective, you all are the weird ones.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, well—” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were cut off by Mari rushing out of the hallway. “Sorry, I didn’t make you wait too long, did I?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, don’t apologize for making him wait,” Leona said cheerfully as Yuki’s eyes widened, taking the Stormweaver in, “he doesn’t have anything better to do, anyways.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Be nice,” Mari scolded her, then turned to him. “How do I look?” she asked, a touch nervously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari, Yuki realized belatedly, cleaned up exceptionally well. She was — to his surprise — wearing an elegant strapless red dress that fell all the way to her ankles, and that showed off her shoulders and arms. He noticed that she wasn’t binding her chest either, though he pointedly avoided staring, and she was even wearing a light layer of makeup. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In other words, she looked like a...</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Like a woman,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he thought to himself. Of course, he wasn’t ever blind to the fact, but with the way she acted, she wasn’t exactly feminine by any real means. The contrast between her usual self and the almost shy woman in front of him was shocking to him, all the more so since he hadn’t seen it coming. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She fidgeted uncomfortably. It was obvious she wasn’t used to dressing up like this — Leona must have helped her with everything. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You look stunning,” Yuki eventually said. Mari blushed brightly, uncharacteristically flustered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“T-Thanks. Where did you want to go?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He understood, then, just how Sayaka must have felt as she’d planned her date out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a surprise.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pouted, but didn’t protest. Following a pointed gesture from Leona that was undoubtedly meant to be subtle but was glaringly obvious to Yuki, Mari offered her hand for him to take. Smiling reassuringly at her, he took her hand, interlacing their fingers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A spark skittered off of his hand, deflected by his Etheria shielding. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, sorry!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay,” he said. “You won’t hurt me like that, remember? Don’t worry about it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona stared at their interconnected hands, a strange look on her face. Yuki considered her for a moment, then eventually said— </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry, it’ll be your turn soon, Leona.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It broke her out of her contemplative state, the blonde magus rolling her eyes. “Idiot. Get out of here, and bring her back safe, alright?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki gently tugged on Mari’s hand, the girl getting the hint and stepping out. “Yes, yes, don’t worry, I’ll bring your beloved home in one piece.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Both of the girls went red, but before Leona could go for her wand, Yuki closed the door in her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you really—” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep. We should move away from the door, though, in case she decides to try to hex me through it. I wouldn’t want you to get caught in the crossfire.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari laughed, letting him guide her away. “I’m still me, you know. I’ll be fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I know all too well how strong you are,” he agreed, “but that’s not the point. Just because you can handle yourself doesn’t mean I’ll stand by and watch you fight by yourself. Well, I’m not so worried anyways — Leona knows you’re here, after all. She won’t do anything that’ll put you at risk.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The brunette glanced away, flustered. Yuki thought back to his practice date with Sayaka and felt an unexpected burst of sympathy for her.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>It really was fun to tease like this, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he realized. </span>
  <em>
    
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just enjoy yourself with me for a while, Mari. You can always return to her later,” he said, smiling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She tugged on his hand in protest. “Hey, I enjoy being with you too. Don’t think that I’m here just thinking about Leona.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki smiled. “Glad to hear it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She grinned back before glancing around. “So, just where are you taking me?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I told you, it’s a surprise. Don’t worry, I won’t have us running around everywhere.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, good,” she said, relieved. “Leona’ll kill me if I tear up this thing.” She indicated her dress distastefully. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It does look very nice on you,” he said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She smiled. “Thanks. Dunno if I’ll ever wear it again, though. Just isn’t my type, you know?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s different, yes. Not a bad different, though,” he agreed, contemplating making a joke involving Leona before deciding against it. “I wouldn’t put it aside forever. Maybe for special circumstances?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Stormweaver laughed. “You like it that much, huh?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Honestly? Yeah.” Yuki shrugged. “It’s a side of you I’ve never seen before, and not just in the way you look.” He squeezed her hand pointedly. “I’ve always thought you were cool, pretty much ever since I’d met you, but I didn’t know you could be...cute, too.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari turned away, face flaming. “I think I regret asking.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He snorted. “I’m surprised you’re this easy to tease. If I’d known, I would’ve been like this with you ages ago.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shook her head. “It wouldn’t have worked until...until recently.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ooh, I see. Leona, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And before that, you just wouldn’t have cared much?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded. “Being aware of my own feelings has led me to actually caring about silly things like how I look and...well, because of that, now I care about what you think, too, and even Setsuna and Sayaka.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why is what </span>
  <em>
    <span>I </span>
  </em>
  <span>think so important?” he asked curiously. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because...” she hesitated, “because you’re my master. It’s impossible for me not to care. And that’s not even getting into the rest of our history.” She squeezed his hand. “It’s exhilarating, you know, being close to you like this. I know it’s not even completely me — well, I think so, anyways. Guess I’m not really sure. But anyways, I’m...ugh. Let’s just say...” she flushed, “if it wasn’t for Setsuna and Leona, I would probably be seriously trying to figure out how to seduce you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki blinked. “Really?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. I can’t touch many people. You know that. Leona’s trying to figure it out, and even Setsuna, now, but, well, that isn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>now</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and I’ve always been someone who goes with what I feel, anyways. Maybe you know a little about what it’s like, with your Aberration? How it feels to finally be able to feel after so long of...not. Not being able to reach out, or even really understand...” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He thought about the first time he had lowered his Veil and the chaos that had ensured with Setsuna, and suppressed a blush.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re that for me. My escape. And you’re everything else, too...my teammate. My...my master. And my best friend.” She smiled warmly at him. “You care about me, enough to stand with me as I faced an army alone, even though dealing with me was so troublesome back then.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Was?” Yuki teased lightheartedly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari pouted. “Point is, of course I care about what you think. You’re really important to me, and you’re always going to be.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They continued walking in a comfortable silence for some time, Yuki contemplating her words and Mari familiar enough with him to let him. A few minutes later, they entered the training ground where the two had first come into conflict, a large plains with a forest in the center. Her fingers tightened minutely around Yuki’s hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Did she still feel guilty about that? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you rent the grounds out?” she asked, instinctively channeling mana into her eyes to improve her vision. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mmm, as much as I could. I leaned on Hikaru’s influence a bit to get it closed off, but we’ll have the whole place to ourselves for about two hours.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow, not bad. So just what did you have in mind, taking me out somewhere this isolated?” she asked impishly. “I don’t think Leona would appreciate—” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing like that,” he said, chuckling. “No, something a bit...closer to home. You remember the night after my confession to Setsuna, right?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course I — oh!” she craned her head up, eyes wide, “of course, I understand now! We’re far away enough from the lamps that—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. I hope you don’t mind stargazing? After my date with Sayaka, I wanted to do something a bit less...ah, exciting isn’t quite the word. Intense?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m afraid anything involving me is going to be exciting,” she said, grinning, “but yes, Yuki, I’d be happy to. Good company for it, too.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smiled at her, her mana-reinforced eyes allowing her to see him in the dark as she stepped over a log. “I have a picnic blanket and a warding array to seal out bugs. Once that’s set up, I’ll bring out the food.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ooh, I was a little hungry. Oh, and about that warding array...I guess it wouldn’t hurt, but you don’t need to do it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right, your little repelling trick. Slipped my mind...well, I’ll do it anyways. Ah, we’re here!” They had arrived in a small clearing within the forests of the training ground, one with a perfect view of the sky above them. They got to work, then, Yuki unsealing the large picnic blanket from a prepared scroll on his waist and Mari releasing a burst of Storm energy to scare away all the nearby living creatures as he finished placing down the wardstones on each corner of the blanket, activating them with a flicker of mana. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ve eaten dinner, right?” Yuki probed as they sat down on the blanket, now adequately protected from the elements. “I’ve brought both a proper meal and snack food just in case.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have, but it was fairly light,” Mari hummed. “I wouldn’t mind waiting, though.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki nodded, then laid back onto the blanket before gesturing to her with a ‘come hither’ gesture. Smiling fondly, she laid down next to him, cuddling up next to him with her head on his arm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re important to me too, Mari,” he said without preamble, though it took her a moment to realize he was continuing their conversation from earlier. “It’s...hard for me to put into words or numbers, and I don’t know what to say that wouldn’t pretty much just be me repeating what you told me. And all of that would be true, of course, but it just wouldn’t feel right. Really, there’s not much I can say at all but this—” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m really, truly grateful to have met you, Mari.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari teared up a little. Yuki turned over, not even pretending to look at the stars, and instead laid an arm across her stomach before gently squeezing her in a hug. She rubbed at her eyes, apparently flustered, then tilted her head to look at him, affection clear in her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought we were supposed to be looking at the stars?” she teased playfully. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smiled. “I already am.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Without warning, she moved, one hand sinking into his collar as her eyes closed and her head tilted up, and...and...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kissing Mari was an electrifying experience, in more ways than one. A spark sizzled across his mouth, deflected once again with the shielding, but leaving his lips more sensitive as they pressed against her warm and very willing mouth, and— </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pulled away, eyes snapping open in horror. “I’m — I’m so sorry, Yuki, I don’t know what came over me, and — oh, hell, what have I </span>
  <em>
    <span>done—</span>
  </em>
  <span>” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Relax,” he said, still a bit dazed, but his voice was firm enough to carry over as an order, and she calmed down slightly. “I’m not mad. Actually, I remember kissing you back quite fervently.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She flushed brightly, but still looked guilty. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Neither of us are in relationships, so we haven’t crossed any kind of line. You’re still in love with Leona, and I’m still in love with Setsuna, so we’ll just call that an, ah, lapse of judgement, okay?” he said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She managed a smile, eyes wet again. “I...okay. Okay. Agh, I’m such a mess, aren’t I?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just human,” he murmured, rubbing her back. “And probably more pent-up than is healthy. I get it, really.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She giggled — </span>
  <em>
    <span>giggled</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Yuki looked at her, surprised. “Sorry, just thought of a bad joke. A-Anyways, the stars, right?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smiled. “The ones in the air, at least.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stop that,” she said, flustered. “Ah...there, look!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turned away to look up with her. “What exactly am I looking at? I only know the Guiding Star.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well,” she took his hand, guiding it to where she wanted him to look, “do you see the cluster of those six stars right there? That’s often referred to as the Coronation Constellation, because...” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I see. Looks like a crown.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right. And here’s something I learned from Leona. Do you see under it, that star there, and then the tight triangle of stars right there? Those stars have very different meanings depending on what side of the border you’re on.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is it a wand, if you’re on the Arcacian side?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You got it. And, historically and culturally, that cluster is significant because it implied that magic gave the right to rule. So it was a big deal back then for them, and it still is today.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Something about a ‘god-given’ right to rule?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh huh. They called it the ‘Imperial Mandate’, or in simpler terms, ‘order to rule’.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gross.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Heh, yeah. When the pre-Lunarians split off from Arcacia, though, they had a very different take. If you look below that wand, do you see that long triangle there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s a bow.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A bow...? Ah, I understand. Then that wand would be an arrow, and...ah, clever.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right, a symbol denouncing the monarchy and the idea of ‘nobility’ in general. Sound familiar?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No...oh, the symbol of the Resistance!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Exactly,” Mari grinned. “Astrology is kind of silly, I think. How can we read the stars when we don’t even completely understand ourselves? But how people think about it, and react to it — that’s how even something as distant as the stars can leave a profound impact on us, all the way over here. Pretty neat, right?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki stared at her, surprised. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but that was surprisingly intellectual coming from you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The brunette laughed. “Everyone’s always shocked. But I told you before, right? History is kind of my thing.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“To my undying surprise, so it is. Got any other stories?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her eyes glittered with excitement. “Lots. But I don’t know how much you want to—” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shook his head, lying back and getting comfortable. “No, Mari, I wouldn’t mind one bit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You sure?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Absolutely.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She grinned. “Well, then I’ll have to start with...yeah, do you see those? They’re what’s known as the Split Lovers, and us historians have had a </span>
  <em>
    <span>fascinating</span>
  </em>
  <span> time with that one...” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And that right there is the Dove.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hold on, I thought that was the tip of the Soldier’s Spear.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It is! It’s just a different perspective. If you draw the lines like...that, there, do you see it now?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see a dove that’s been stabbed by a spear.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She laughed. “That’s one way to look at it. Never thought about it like that, though. But that’s the cool thing about stargazing, I think — everyone can see something different, and there isn’t really a wrong answer. In the end, all that matters is what you take away from it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And what do you take away from it?” Yuki asked curiously. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me? I guess about the same thing I take away from all my history study,” she said. “People have made mistakes. Lots and lots of them. But by looking at our past, we can avoid making the same ones over and over again, I think. And studying the stars is just one aspect of that, because even though the stars don’t really affect us directly, they’ve affected others who have in turn affected us. Those kinds of connections are really interesting to me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you study the past for the sake of the future?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mm...yeah, that sounds about right to me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s pretty cool.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari smiled. “Most people don’t think so, but I have fun with it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. Ah, not to interrupt, but our time is almost up here.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, really?!” Mari sat up to look at him properly, surprised.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep. We have...mm, about three minutes left.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah. We didn’t even get to the food, did we?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki sat up, stretching his shoulders. “I don’t mind. It was fun regardless. I can give you the food to take home later if you like.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, please. Leona’s not much of a cook, and you already know how I am in the kitchen...” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Exceptionally mediocre?” he offered, smirking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Something like that,” she said, laughing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I don’t mind making you two food. It isn’t much more work.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Guess I’ll have to pay you back for that, huh?” she said softly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, you really don’t—” he stopped talking as Mari shifted forward, placing both hands on his shoulders, and leaned in to kiss him again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This time when she pulled away, she was smiling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not a mistake this time,” she said breathlessly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki nodded, a little out-of-breath. “I’m inclined to agree.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She smiled, a little sadly. “We won’t do it again, but I’m glad. Thanks for the date, Yuki. And, maybe, we could do this again...as friends?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” he agreed. “I...I’d love that.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She grinned. “Then...let’s go back home.” </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Illuminate (Reverie, III)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Chapter 1: Sayaka<br/>Chapter 2: Mari<br/><b>Chapter 3: Leona</b></p><p>Spellborne AU — (mostly) canon-compliant up to the end of Act 4, and diverges in several ways immediately afterwards. To avoid spoilers, I won’t specify what these divergences are. That being said, though, there are more than a few Act 4 spoilers in this chapter.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
<b>Chapter 3: Leona</b><span><br/>
</span>
</h1><p>
  <span>“Mari won’t tell me what you guys got up to,” Leona complained, sitting at the dinner table in Yuki’s house. “So just what happened?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Setsuna was out for the third day in a row running some kind of errand, leaving the two pseudo-siblings alone. Both of them were in casual dress — Yuki in dark-colored shirt and shorts, and Leona in a long-sleeved black sweater, pink skirt, and long black socks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell,” he retorted across from her between bites of his breakfast.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She raised an eyebrow, putting down her fork. “You’re not a gentleman.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He snorted. “I won’t say anything, either. All you have to know is that we had a lovely time together...and that she’s still much more interested in you as a romantic partner.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She grinned. “That’s good enough for me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki rolled his eyes. “When are you going to ask her out? It’s obvious even to me that you two are just dancing around each other at this point.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When I can touch her properly,” Leona said, poking at her food with more force than strictly necessary. “I’m still working with Setsuna on the runes and seals for our most recent idea to absorb her errant lightning, and we’re pretty hopeful...maybe a week, if I’m lucky?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, is that why she’s hardly been around in recent days?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona nodded. “Yeah, she was with me...ah, a few days ago? Two days ago. We spent a lot of time talking about that, amongst other things...” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Other things?” Yuki asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A lady doesn’t kiss and tell,” she said smugly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re not a—” He paused, eyeing the wand that had suddenly appeared in her hand. “Completely understandable. I won’t probe any more.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good,” she said, satisfied. “Now hurry up and finish so that we can go out.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, did you come up with something?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. Take me sightseeing!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki blinked. “Sightseeing? Where? If you actually want a tour, literally anyone else you know would give you a better experience—” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I don’t care about what’s popular,” she said dismissively. “I hear a lot about all these different places you guys have been to, but I haven’t been to many of them, and it’s not a good idea for me to go around alone considering I’ve only recently immigrated. So I want to see them for myself!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right. You have the documentation you need for your passport though, right?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, that sounds like it might be fun,” Yuki said thoughtfully. “Hm, where to go...? That BBQ place, of course, and...hm, maybe the donuts that Setsuna likes, too, and the South Library...they’ll let you go in, probably, as long as I’m with you, and I can flash my apprenticeship papers if I need to. Ah, where else...? I don’t think I can come up with a good reason to get you into the Academy...”  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona watched him, an amused expression on her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, where else? Probably not a good idea to take you to the Examination Centers. The Outskirts, maybe? Ah, that training ground we always go to, and...oh, I ought to take you to Kitaro and Mirai, too.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Should I come back in an hour?” she asked, smirking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki narrowed his eyes, standing up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know what? Fine. Let’s go now, then.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh? What? Wait, I need to change, and—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jumping the table in an instant, he grabbed her by the waist and bodily threw her up and over his shoulder, securing her with his arm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gah! Put me down, you—” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope, we’re going, and we’re going now!” He thrust his hand out, snagging a long pink scarf with a current of Wind and draping it over her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? You — argh! Lemme go!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shush, you’re going to attract a lot of unwanted attention if you’re that loud outside. Use your magic and get your boots, or else you’re going shoeless.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll show you unwanted attention, you jerk! Put me down!” Despite her protests, though, she did as he said, wandlessly levitating her boots behind them. Yuki ducked as she promptly tried to hit him in the head with them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nah, I’ll wait until we’re deeper into the city. That way you’ll get lost if you try to run away.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t do that!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki snorted. “Promise?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Damnit. Can you shift me, at least? Your shoulder is digging into my stomach and it’s really uncomfortable. And, frankly, I’m not enough of an exhibitionist to enjoy having my butt in the air like this. Pervert.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not the one exposing myself indecently. But promise not to run away, and I’ll let you ride on my back.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ugh. Deal.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shifted down, then forward, letting her slip off of him. She immediately kicked him in the shin angrily, a pout on her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jerk.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t even have the decency to wince. “Uh huh. Up you go.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She quickly slipped her boots on, then obligingly went behind him and jumped on with a little more force than necessarily, wrapping her arms and legs around his neck and waist respectively. Standing with ease, he walked over to the front door, letting her twist the doorknob, then pushed the door open and negligently froze it behind him with a wave of his hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is Setsuna going to be able to get in?” Leona asked from his back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course. So could Mari and Sayaka.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shrugged. “Because I want it to.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, seriously?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep. Benefits of being a skilled Aberrant.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cool. So where’re you taking me first?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, you’ve already eaten, so no food, but you clearly have energy to burn, so I won’t inflict you on the library—” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think I’ll take you to the training ground first, then the waterfalls.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alune has waterfalls?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Only in the loosest sense of the term. They’re...well, you’ll see when the time comes. It’ll be more fun to show you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hehe, okay. And the training ground...?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s where Mari and I really met, and...remember how I told you before that Sayaka and Setsuna didn’t get along at first? One of the exercises we did there was easily the biggest reason.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Even more than the Academy?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, yeah. They were actually on pretty decent terms prior to it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was you, wasn’t it?” Leona asked accusingly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The reason they fought?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki didn’t answer immediately, the blonde magus impatiently shifting on his back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They fought because of a difference of ethics,” he said eventually. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona attempted to strangle him with her scarf. Yuki reinforced his throat and proceeded to ignore her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“On the validity of waterboarding as a tool in a practice exercise amongst allies,” he clarified. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She took her scarf back. “Ah. Wait, does that mean...? Oh. I see. Sayaka was the one who did it to you, and Setsuna...?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t like it one bit, yes.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m...not surprised. And you — you’re still...how are you still friends with her?” Leona said in disbelief. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because it wasn’t a big deal to me. The psychological effects took less than a single night to resolve, and I developed a new skill as a result.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And if she had done it to Setsuna, how would you have felt?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki paused abruptly in the middle of the street. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But she didn’t,” he eventually said, continuing to walk once more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona sighed exasperatedly. “You’re missing the point. That’s how Setsuna felt. The fact that she can tolerate Sayaka at all now is a miracle.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess so,” Yuki said indifferently. “But all of that is in the past now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blonde magus sighed again, but didn’t say anything further on the topic. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She’s been a bit aggressive recently, hasn’t she, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he thought to himself. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Hm...</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And here we are,” he said, after a few more minutes of somewhat uncomfortable silence. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So we are,” Leona agreed. “Can I be trusted to walk now?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure. Think fast,” Yuki warned, and then he grabbed her by the arms and bodily threw her over his shoulder. Leona shrieked, yanking her wand from subspace before righting herself mid-air and sliding back across the ground. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You — what the hell?!” Leona yelled. “I could’ve actually gotten hurt!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki rolled his eyes. “You were trained by Alexandria Dawn. I trusted in your reflexes.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She fumed. “Yeah, well, maybe I should start attacking you and see how you like it!” </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Ah, Leona, you’re just too easy, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Yuki thought, then let a slow, purposeful smirk cross his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You say that like you could actually hit me—” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He ducked a bolt of violent orange magic, then began running away in earnest as Leona started casting properly, bursts of multicoloured energy flying around him and scorching the ground. As he got farther away, she began chasing after him, ramping up the power of her casts and forcing him to begin blocking with pillars of Ice. Tremors shook the earth, deflected lasers and beams of energy tore holes in the ground and in the nearby trees, and waves of Fire and Air magic scorched the land. Yuki didn’t strike back, though, merely blocking and deflecting the spells that he couldn’t dodge and evading the rest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why...won’t you strike back?!” Leona yelled, hurling a dozen more spells at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki blocked them in a single casual sweep of his arm. “Because you’re not remotely serious. Half the spells you’re throwing at me wouldn’t hurt me if I stood still and let them, and my abilities don’t really play nice.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The petite magus glared, but instead of escalating the fight, she slumped instead, dismissing her wand back into subspace. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Feel better now?” he asked, approaching her cautiously. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A little,” she said, then sighed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get that upset.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shrugged. “Nah, I riled you up on purpose. I could tell you needed it. It’s not bad to let loose so long as you can do it safely, and I’m plenty strong enough to absorb what you throw at me so long as you aren’t seriously trying to kill me. So what’s wrong, Leona?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everything,” she griped. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds tough,” he commiserated dryly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona glared, but was too tired to raise her wand at him. “Mari. It always comes back to her. I like her, she likes me, but I don’t think I can move forward until I have a solution to the touching...uh, what are you doing?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki finished spreading out a picnic blanket. “Sounds like we’ll be here a while, and though I don’t care if I stand for an hour, you will.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can we actually stay that long?” Leona asked, sitting down and smoothing out her skirt. “Don’t you have to reserve parts of the grounds?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep. Already did.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She gaped. “You planned this!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Most of it,” Yuki admitted. “I was going to drag you out at some point in the morning, so I prepared for it after my date with Mari last night. You just provided me with an opportunity.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stared at him for a moment, surprise etched across her features, before smiling slightly. “Not bad.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks. Anyways, a solution, hm...? I don’t suppose you’ve asked Mari herself for her input?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course not! I can’t approach her without something. I promised, after all...” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mari isn’t the type of person to care about that, though,” Yuki pointed out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I am!” Leona protested. “I’ll know that I failed. And...I can’t. Not with something as important as this. I know it hasn’t been all that long, but I...I really like her, Yuki. I  can’t fail. If it was Setsuna...” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...I understand,” Yuki agreed softly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two sat in silence for a moment, lost in thought. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s your current idea, then?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We figured out that absorbing the electricity with either seals or runes is no good. She’s just too strong. It only sometimes holds up to casual use, and if she loses much more control, it completely fails. And if the seal fails, all the absorbed energy is released.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you need an outlet for the absorbed energy, right? And a more efficient way to absorb the energy?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right. But that’s the hard part. Mari’s power just doesn’t play nice with it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And I know why,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Yuki thought to himself. </span>
  <em>
    <span>It’s because all of her Storm contains trace amounts of her Etheria. That, in turn, would cause rapid erosion of the seals and runes, which are traced with mana. What an obvious issue in retrospect. But Setsuna and Leona wouldn’t know about that. That’s a secret only Mari and I knew, but we didn’t learn about the problem until just now. Damn it, I should have paid more attention to what was going on. But I can’t just say that I have the solution, either. The fact that Aberrants drain their Etheria needs to be kept a secret, especially from the people we know. So what do I do?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll take a look at it when we get home,” Yuki promised. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” Leona asked. “Thanks. You don’t really seem the type, but you’re actually pretty reliable...maybe we’ll be able to figure something out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki suppressed a flash of guilt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ehehe, I actually feel a lot better about it now,” she said, smiling cheerfully. “So, this is where you met Mari, right? Tell me about it!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, you wouldn’t believe it, but Mari was actually quite the troublemaker...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you learned how to breathe underwater at these...’waterfalls’?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now you know what I meant, right? They’re pretty small. But I didn’t need much more.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That Ice of yours really scares me, sometimes...” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This meat is amazing! We should come here more often!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should tell Mari. She takes any excuse she can to come out here.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really? Now I’m getting some date ideas, too...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This library isn’t as big as I thought it would be. It’s for the whole Southern Sector?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, there are some branch locations, but this is by far the main one, yes. You have to keep in mind that Alune is a lot smaller than probably any major city of Arcacia, so our institutions aren’t as large. Better quality, though...” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but there’s no romance section.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wrong kind of library.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aw.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kitaro, Mirai, this is my adopted sister, Leona Dawn.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“H-Hi, Miss Dawn.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your hair is pretty!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you! Want to see something cool?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please try not to blow them up, Leona.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know,” Leona said brightly, “I think I like the Outskirts more. It has...more character, I think?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“In many ways, yes,” Yuki agreed. “That’s just a reflection of the requirements of living in the Inner Ring, though. You need to be a Lunari, training to become one, direct family of an active one, or be a very notable civilian business or industry leader in order to move. But the Outskirts is far from a bad place.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona nodded. “Yeah. I thought from the name that it might be some kind of slum, but it looks like Alune really does treat its civilians well.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course they do. They’re as much the lifeblood of the state as the Lunari are. In some ways, we’re what you might consider the true nobility — the civilians provide for us, and we protect them. Give and take responsibility, and power earned on merit. In exchange for protecting the state — the people — you receive certain benefits, but those benefits don’t come at the loss of the civilians. That’s the mission of the Lunari. We’re trained to protect, first and foremost.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds like what the mage knights were supposed to do,” Leona said, a little forlornly. “But a lot of them didn’t.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yuki nodded. “In some ways, we’re far more disciplined as a result. You can actually be held back from promoting through the ranks if you lack the correct attitude.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She hummed thoughtfully. “If I was more of a fighter, then maybe...but I think I’d rather just stay home. Even being a mage-knight didn’t compare in risk. I just hope you guys keep coming home safely...” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We will,” Yuki said, carefully not promising. Leona didn’t ask for one, either, instead carefully shifting the subject to something a little more innocent. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually, though, they returned back home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks for today,” Leona said brightly, hugging him close. “I think I really needed to get out and do something.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. It was fun, wasn’t it?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blonde magus nodded enthusiastically, squeezing him one last time before bouncing back and disappearing into Mari’s home. Yuki stared at the closed door for a moment, lost in thought, then spun around and went back to his house, the Ice holding the door shut vanishing with a thought. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Setsuna!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sealer looked up from the table, a sealing array in front of her. “What’s the rush?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that the array for Leona?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, yeah. But it’s not done—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know what the problem is and how to fix it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her eyes widened for a moment, then narrowed as determination sparked in them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mari’s Storm Mana contains trace amounts of Etheria,” he said bluntly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She cursed. “That would do it. No wonder my channeling didn’t work, if Storm mana has inherent anti-magical properties, then...” Her head snapped up. “You said you had a solution?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let me trace the runes.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You?” she muttered. “Right, anti-Storm properties of Ice...wait, no, that’s stupid, why would...? Opposing elements? They’re both High Aberrants, so maybe...but...” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll use my Ice Mana. It’ll be able to harmlessly deflect the Storm Mana. My own deflection field works off of similar principles. You don’t have to absorb the mana, right?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Setsuna nodded eagerly. “That might work, but I’d have to test it, see exactly what...” She trailed off, muttering under her breath about high-level concepts Yuki wasn’t knowledgeable enough to understand, but he didn’t need to. Instead, he watched his partner’s eyes, glimmering with excitement. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sayaka was right,” he murmured. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh?” Setsuna asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Passion really is attractive,” he said, smiling at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“H-Huh? What’s...w-w-what’s that about?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span> “Setsuna...please go on a date with me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure. How’s tomorrow sound?”  </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Couldn't resist the Yuki/Setsuna moment at the end. </p><p>I had a lot of fun writing this short fic. Yuki/Mari might be the healthiest relationship in the series, if I would let it take off, but that's just not where Spellborne is aimed right now. I want to do that relationship justice, though, so expect it to appear in a side-story eventually.</p><p>Anyways, that's a wrap. This was a really welcome break from where I'd gotten stuck on Spellborne, and it actually helped me iron out a couple ideas to use for the future as well as fixing my block. Back to your regularly scheduled program!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Forged (Vibrancy, I)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <b>Vibrancy (Chapter One)</b>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>Ren Arisoto was having a bad day. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>First, one of the expected shipments of knives hadn’t come in due to poor weather on the routes, leaving one of their primary buyers rather dissatisfied. Despite it not being his fault, he’d still gotten dressed down for it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Secondly, the worker assigned to the shift with him had called out, and there hadn’t been anyone able to pick up the shift, so he was working the busiest time in the shop by himself. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And, finally, he’d just broken up a few days ago with his girlfriend of a year and a half — she was emigrating to a different state alongside her merchant family. He liked to think they had gotten along pretty well, but neither of them had been willing to try staying together over that distance, so they’d broken up. He was only seventeen, so it wasn’t like his life was over, but it sure felt like it at times. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Needless to say, by the time the worst of the traffic was over, he’d been about ready to collapse and was feeling more than a little irritable. But for the first time in seven hours, the shop was empty, he didn’t have any pre-orders to fill, and— </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A petite girl walked into the shop, dressed in the South Academy outfit. She had short black hair styled in a somewhat messy bob and walked with a surprisingly purposeful stride. Still, as he’d learned over the years, that meant nothing. Academy Students tended to be poorly informed about, well, everything, and he didn’t want to get stuck throwing out basic explanations to people who would probably die in the process of trying to learn their weapons. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good evening...” he said unenthusiastically, “Welcome to the Southern Alune Blacksmithery and Weaponry Emporium, how may I help—?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you know much about throwing knives?” she interrupted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...Yes?” he said, taken aback.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m looking to optimize a seal-based mechanism for throwing knives empowered with velocity and explosive seals, and I’d like your advice regarding that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He raised an eyebrow. “Do you have a blueprint of the mechanism and knives?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nodded, and it was then that he realized that she had a half-dozen scroll containers lining her waist. “I also have prototypes, but I’ve been encountering issues with the firing mechanism, and I’m almost certain that it’s a mechanical issue, not a sealing one. I have the blueprints for the last six prototypes, too, if you’d like to see that process.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ren was intrigued. Though he was hardly a sealing expert, he was plenty comfortable with the basics and then some, and he was much more mechanically inclined, anyways. But surely this girl didn’t expect him to believe that she was capable of designing this kind of thing? She was a sixth-year based on the insignia of her uniform, and looked even younger. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure. Walk me through your current prototyping,” he said, still skeptical, but willing to try her knowledge anyways. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In a flash, she had it unsealed, holding it out for him to take. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s designed to be worn as a bracer. I didn’t focus much on the physically protective aspects because of the protective sealing here that’ll render it nearly invulnerable—” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come again?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nodded. “Stasis seal. I won’t explain the specifics to you because that's a trade secret. In summary, though, I’ve tied an impulse trigger to an array that can essentially seal the fantasy Time element out of the object, rendering it impossible to interact with for about a half-second before a breaker in the array snaps and cancels the element. Incidentally, that’s the only way it can be brought back other than degradation of...”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ren listened to her explanation with widening eyes. She talked so comfortably and familiarly about the subject that it was impossible to think that she didn’t know exactly what she was doing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let me get this straight,” he said when she was done. “You’ve designed a seal that renders objects temporarily immune to physical damage?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“In theory, yes,” she agreed, “though I have yet to test it against the upper end of force. I do know that they can block Mag-7 explosive seals without issue, but they’re rather mana-expensive.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded, standing up abruptly. “Pardon me.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A-Ah, sure?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He walked up to the entrance of the shop, flipped the sign from ‘Open’ to ‘Closed’, closed up the doors, then came back to find her staring curiously, if somewhat nervously. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not what it looks like,” he defended, flushing. “But it seems like this will take a while, and I don’t want to be interrupted.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“O-Oh, I should have realized. Are you the only one here? I don’t want to disrupt your business, so—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He raised his hand slightly, stopping her. “Please. This is the most interesting thing I’ve heard about in </span>
  <em>
    <span>years.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Really?” she asked, almost shyly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded firmly. “There are not many people who understand sealing and forging enough to know how they might intertwine. You obviously have much more understanding of the former, and I the latter. Together, I think we’ll be able to solve your problems just fine, and if you’d like, I’d be willing to commission </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> for some ideas I’ve had, if you’re on the level where you can create original seals.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She smiled. Ren thought the expression looked quite nice on her. “I think we can work something out, then.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He clapped his hands. “Wait here. I’ll bring out a larger table, and then we can start going into the details. But, before that...might I have your name?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The black-haired girl nodded. “I’m...Setsuna Tsuri. And you are...?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ren Arisoto. I think we’ll get along quite well, Miss Tsuri.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Setsuna was, Ren quickly came to learn, a delightfully clever young woman. Her mastery of seals was astonishing — an intuitive genius that he couldn’t hope to match. Even with things unrelated to her chosen field, though, she was an incredibly quick study, jumping between concepts and making logical connections with supreme ease. More than once, he’d needed to ask her to explain something she’d come up with, and she’d do so as easily as breathing. She was a bit shy at first, but as the evening went on, that melted away quickly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’d watched grey eyes sparkling with passion, and thought privately that she was the most interesting girl he’d ever known. He didn’t have much time to gawk, though — she pushed him. Constantly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was challenging. It was impressive. It was the most fun he’d had since his breakup, and if he was being honest with himself, longer than perhaps even that. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>By the time they began breaking for the night, his head was pleasantly sore, mind awash with new ideas and concepts. Setsuna looked pleased, having plenty of new things to try out herself. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you for accommodating me,” she said, snapping off a cute little bow. “Are you sure you don’t want payment? I kept you for a rather long time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ren shook his head. “No. I’m pretty sure that I learned more than you did today.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She smiled shyly. “Then if you don’t mind, could I come again sometime? I don’t know when, but I’m free on a few later afternoons and evenings.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded. “I work every weekday afternoon and evening. My shifts end at eight, but as long as I’m not the only one in the shop, it won’t be a problem for me to dip out. Especially if I say we’re working on business-related things, which we are. The worst that’ll happen is that they ask for you to prove your sealing expertise, which after what I’ve seen today, won’t be hard for you at all.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She fidgeted. “Then I’ll come around. Thank you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No problem. Here, I’ll see you out.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As Ren watched her walk away, he couldn’t help but grin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Life just got a lot more interesting...”</span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Bloom (Vibrancy, II)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <b>Vibrancy (Chapter Two) </b>
</h1><p>
  <span>“Oi, Ren!” A feminine voice called out into the back room, where a table had been pulled out. A brown-haired boy was sitting at it, sharpening a knife. “Your little sealer girl is here!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The green-eyed boy looked up, eyebrow twitching. “Keep it down, Em. Don’t make her uncomfortable. And anyways, she’s not mine.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bet you wished otherwise, don’tcha?” His blonde-haired coworker walked into view, smirking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut up. Go back to work. I’ll go get her and bring her back here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, yes...but if you two make any messes, you’re cleaning them up yourself, got it?! And make sure it doesn’t smell—” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey!” he protested, flushing. “We haven’t done anything along those lines! And our relationship is strictly professional, thank you very much! Need I remind you that the last two products the store’s introduced have all been collaboration products between us?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, well, maybe I’d be less accusing if I hadn’t walked on you and Maki a month ago!” Em retorted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He winced.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry,” she said, not sounding especially apologetic. “Now go get her. Whoo.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” he said dryly, “I think.” Putting the knife down, he went out to the front, where the sealer in question was waiting for him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah...is it a bad time?” Setsuna asked, subtly deactivating the flow of mana to her ears as he approached. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” he said. “Anyways, come on in. Oh, and about that project we were discussing the last time...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her eyes lit up. “Ah, the manatech rifle? Were you able to produce it per the specifications?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh huh, so now it’s just waiting for your sealing work. And when that’s done, I believe we’ll be able to test-fire it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She smiled. “I’ll be looking forward to that. If we can get it to work, I was playing around with some ideas during my free time. I’m still working out the kinks, and I’ll definitely need your expertise on this, but we might actually be able to create a gun that fires a bullet without needing to be reloaded after every shot!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ren’s eyes widened. That would be a massive improvement over the single-shot weapons that were used by the civilian armed forces. The money involved in such a deal...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get in the back,” he said promptly, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. Thankfully, no one was paying them any mind. Setsuna, realizing the implications of what she’d just said, immediately did as he said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry,” she said sheepishly once they were safe inside, “I didn’t think that far ahead. I was just thinking about how, not whether or not we should...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shrugged as he locked the door. “It’s okay, no one was paying attention to us. But you might want to be careful about that in the future, you know? Well, whatever. How’d you do it?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, it’s not hard, is it?” Setsuna asked innocently. “The only parts of the rifle that must be automated are the trigger and firing mechanisms, as well as the input and output. We’d covered the first two in our work on the manatech rifle, so after that it was just making an elegant design for the rest.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But — but the designs you had come up already took up what little space there was on the rifle for you to mark! Didn’t we agree that we’d optimized the design for the trigger and firing mechanisms already?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She smiled. “It is a really elegant design.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stared at her. “Uh...huh. Will I be allowed to see this one?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shook her head. “Sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Eh,” he shrugged. “What can you do, right? Are you going to need me to do some mana-forging with that one, too?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Most likely, yes. Oh, right — because of that, even if we do get a...ah, what would we call it? A repeating rifle...? No, I don’t quite...hm...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He watched, amused, as she drifted off into a trance. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen her slip away into her thoughts, but he’d learned after his first interruption and her resultant disorientation that it was better to just leave her until she came out. Besides, it wasn’t like he had nothing to do in the meantime, either. He grinned, engaging in what was quickly growing to become one of his favorite pastimes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she got lost in thought, Setsuna’s face underwent some fascinating changes. The intensity typical in her eyes waned as she unfocused, attention drifting off to thoughts only she could hear. Unconsciously, he noticed, her head would always tilt a few degrees to the left. Her lips pursed slightly, and parted, almost as if waiting for a kiss. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ren wondered when he became so entranced with her. Undoubtedly, it was from the first time they’d met, that day over three weeks ago, but sometime between then and now he’d stopped looking at her as a source of interesting ideas. He loved her mind, of course — without it, he doubted he’d find her nearly as interesting — but at some point, he’d become intrigued by her as a woman, too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She jerked suddenly, eyes refocusing on him. “Ah, sorry, did I—?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s no problem,” he said, a little more gently than he’d meant. “What’d you come up with?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She smiled awkwardly. “Creative names aren’t really my strong suit. I can’t think of anything good — maybe a cyclic rifle?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He winced. “We’ll have time to come up with a name for it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not good, huh?” she asked, laughing. “Well, I’ll let you handle it, in that case. In the meantime, though, I do have the mechanical blueprints here, as well as the notes. It’s not all that different from the one we’ve already been designing, but there’s some small details that need close attention, and I wanted to see if you could figure out a way to make this one part more elegant...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ren smiled, and settled in for another session.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why don’tcha just ask her to date you?” Em asked, a few days later. “She’s nice enough, and real useful. You’re inheriting the shop from your old man, aren’tcha? She’d be good for business, and then maybe I could get paid a little more.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Real generous, aren’t you?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She clucked her tongue at him. “Generosity doesn’t pay the bills.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He rolled his eyes, drawing guide lines on a slab of metal. “It wouldn’t work out, long-term. I’m not a real Lunari, but she obviously is. And she’ll be a real good one, at that, what with her seals. And eventually she won’t need me, either. I’ve started teaching her the basics of mana-forging.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Em turned with wide eyes. “What? But isn’t — that’s a closely held secret, ain’t it? And you’re — you said it wasn’t serious, but usually that kind of thing passes between family, and—” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Woah, relax. I said the basics, didn’t I? None of the actual secrets, just the process so she can understand just what it is I bring to the table.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She narrowed her eyes. “Then why’d you say she won’t need you?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shrugged. “She’s smart. She’ll figure it out eventually. I just...helped her along the way?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But why help her at all? If you — wouldn’t you rather make sure she needs you?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shook his head. “I still get more out of this than she does. How to explain...” Ren tapped his chin. “You know, I’ve been...satisfied, I guess, running the shop. I’m good at forging, better at mana-forging, and I don’t hate all the management, I suppose, even if it’s better for me to pawn that off to you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve noticed,” she retorted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I haven’t been really happy, I think. Whenever I’m not shaping wood or metal, I’m pretty much just waiting until I can. But that girl changed that. I think...even if she were to disappear this very moment, maybe I could still be happy. Because she taught me so much. It feels like my world has been expanded, I guess? Maybe I’m not explaining it well. I’ve always been more of a blacksmith than a wordsmith.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You sound lovesick,” Em said flatly, “but that makes sense, I guess. But then that should be all the more reason to pursue her, don’tcha think? If you already know you’ll be fine if you lose her...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He rolled his eyes. “Just because I could doesn’t mean I’d like to. But I’ll think about it, I guess.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Resonant (Vibrancy, III)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <b>Vibrancy (Chapter Three) </b>
</h1><p>
  <span>A week later, they found themselves outside, Setsuna aiming a sleek rifle etched with intricate, glowing blue lines at a straw dummy. Ren had offered to do the firing before Setsuna had informed him that he couldn’t — apparently, she wrote her seals in such a way as to prevent her creations from being captured or used against her, and one of those methods was ensuring that only she could use them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even after she’d explained the basics to him, he still wasn’t sure how it was supposed to work. Something about mixed-affinity mana? How was that even supposed to work? Mana was supposed to be distinctly Fire, Water, Wind, or Earth, wasn’t it? He’d said as much to her, but she’d just shrugged with a knowing smile on her face. Must be a specialist thing, he supposed, and was almost certainly beyond his ‘need-to-know’, anyways. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Apparently satisfied, she locked the rifle into a metal holder with a long base and a strange vertical metal square, then backed up closer to him, hunkering behind a transparent blast shield — once again, courtesy of Setsuna. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Firing in five,” she said softly, raising a hand. The tip of her finger glowed with blue mana. He watched, entranced, as she poked the finger out from behind the blast shield, simultaneously raising her other hand and pressing it against the clear shield. At her cue, he manipulated his mana, sealing off his ears and watching her lips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Firing.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Things moved quickly — a bolt of mana launched from her fingers, weak, containing just enough power to strike the vertical metal square attached to the base of the holder— </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mana erupted, a sharp pulse of energy released, flowing up premade channels in the metal— </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A special stasis seal triggered, keeping the part of the holder that held the gun in place temporarily immovable— </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The gun fired—</span>
</p><p>
  <span>An impulse trigger was activated, mana being unsealed and flowing down a channel back down into the holder— </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mana flowed back up, and the stasis seal triggered again— </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The gun fired again. And again. And again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ren watched, enraptured, as in the space of thirty seconds, fifty-two shots were fired. When the gun stopped firing, he released his hold on his mana, wincing as sound rushed back to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Seems like the test was a success,” Setsuna said cheerfully. For a moment, he couldn’t help but stare — in that moment, she looked so unguarded that his breath was taken away from him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then he registered her words— </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ren looked at her incredulously. “You’re now the proud owner of a rifle that can shoot at the rate of nearly twice every second and that’s all you have to say?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shrugged. “It’s hardly the first time I — wait, ‘you’re’? Isn’t it ours?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He snorted. “What’ll I do with a gun that I can’t shoot? No, Setsuna, you take it. I’m sure you’ll get more use out of it than I will, anyways.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She flushed. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to make something useful for you, to make up for it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smiled, gazing into her eyes. “You don’t have to. There’s no debt between us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Huh?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ren stepped closer, taking her hand in his. She stared up at him, lips parting in surprise. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beautiful. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn’t seem to know how to react, but she wasn’t pulling away, either. He leaned forward to kiss her...and was stopped by a surprisingly firm hand on his chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please don’t,” she whispered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stared at her for a moment, finding no give in her eyes, then nodded, stepping back, but not releasing her hand.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was worth a try,” he said, forcing aside his disappointment. “I’d thought...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shook her head sharply. “It’s...it’s not you.” She glanced away awkwardly, clearly thinking. “I...you are certainly not a bad person, Ren, and maybe if the circumstances were different, I’d be willing to try, but there’s already someone else I’ve sworn my life to.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He narrowed his eyes, his grip tightening slightly. “What do you mean by that? Sworn your life to them? But — but have they sworn theirs to you?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She smiled sadly. “No, and I haven’t asked him to. But that doesn’t change anything. I must still be there for him, and I will be. So I can’t return your feelings, Ren.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He evaluated her words and her expressions, and gauged them to be truthful. He nodded, breathing out forcefully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I...I don’t like it, but it is your life, and I won’t get in your way. But...” he hesitated, “can we still be friends? I’ve enjoyed working with you, so—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sealer smiled. “Of course, Ren. Of course.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Could I get a hug?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t push it,” she warned, but motioned him closer anyways with a gentle expression on her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was soft, he thought. Soft and so very warm, with the sweet-salty tang of apple-scented shampoo, sweat, and metal. But not weak — certainly not weak. He remembered the unyielding force of her hand against his chest, and understood that underneath her soft and shy exterior was a core of steel. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was...intimidating.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But also so very attractive. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He might not be able to have her the way he wanted, but this wasn’t so bad, either. He could work with this, admire her from afar, and one day, perhaps, she’d change her mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And if she didn’t, well, it wasn’t so bad. Because she would still be there, and for Ren Arisoto, that was enough. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Welcome home. Had a productive—?! Setsuna?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sighed gently into Yuki’s chest, both arms wrapped tightly around him. Ren’s embrace was warm and, if she was honest with herself, maybe a little bit exciting — but the touch of her partner was cool and comforting. Like </span>
  <em>
    <span>home.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>And for a girl who’d already had to give up one home, what she would choose was never in question. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m back.” </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Ayaka's Antics, I</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ayaka’s Antics<br/>Characters: Mari, Ayaka, Kaede<br/>Timeline: Act 1<br/>Dimension: Canon<br/>Genre: Romance<br/>Summary: Ayaka, being locked in the basement for much of the day, is naturally a bit mischievous. Thankfully, Mari isn’t alone in dealing with her.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <b>Ayaka’s Antics, Chapter 1 </b>
</h1><p>
  <em>
    <span>How could one nine-year-old kid cause this much trouble?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Mari Aono thought to herself exasperatedly as she looked at the water soaking her bathroom floor. Peeking out nervously with wide hazel eyes from the rim of the copper tub was the girl in question, short black hair matted against the top of her head.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oops,” Ayaka said innocently. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari let out a long, exasperated sigh. “I’m glad that you’re enjoying yourself, sis, but if you keep rocking the water in the tub, it will eventually come out, you know?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll feed it to my plants!” she said brightly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Huh?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, look!” Ayaka quickly clasped her hands together, focusing as green mana swirled to life around her hands. Mari watched as a small plant blossomed in her palms, a little leafy plant with large roots. Settling it down, Ayaka watched gleefully as it sucked water into it far faster than it had any right to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That is not how that works,” the Stormweaver said, dumbfounded. In moments, the ground was dry, the plant comically expanded to twice its size. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah it is!” Ayaka objected. “It just did!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span> Mari smiled weakly. “I guess I can’t object to that. Good work, sis.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hehe.” The Plantweaver clapped her hands, making the plant vanish into mana and taking the water with it.   </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But that doesn’t mean you should splash water outside of the tub, even if you can clean it up,” Mari warned sternly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aw, why not?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because,” a warm voice said from behind them, “making a mess is a bad thing to do, and it makes your big sis sad.” A young woman with long blonde hair stepped into the bathroom, kneeling down in front of Ayaka. “You don’t want to make your big sis sad, do you?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Ayaka shook her head rapidly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good,” she said warmly. “Do you like cookies?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The small girl nodded energetically.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you behave and don’t splash any more water, then I’ll make some cookies for you tonight, okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay!” Ayaka said happily before amusing herself by growing another plant in the water, one that began to suck up the water in the bathtub.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari turned to the newcomer. “I can see why Yuki recommended you, Miss Suzuki. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her settle down that quickly before.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kaede Suzuki grinned. “It’s not that hard. Figure out what she cares about and offer a reasonable positive reinforcement. And I could see that she cares about you very, very much, and vice versa. She wants to make you happy. That’s only natural for someone you love, right? If she learns what does and doesn’t make you happy, she’ll automatically be inclined to behave better.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see,” Mari said thoughtfully. “I’d never thought of it like that.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blonde shrugged, eyeing Ayaka as the girl began growing a miniature tree. “It just takes patience, perception, and a genuine love for children — and speaking of children, young lady, if that tree grows much bigger you’ll tip over the bathtub.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari yelped. “Ayaka! What have I told you about growing things bigger than yourself!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ayaka pouted. “Not to do it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Stormweaver pointed at the tree with a raised eyebrow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ayaka pouted harder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What kind of cookies does she like?” Kaede asked Mari. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, chocolate chip. Why?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I was just thinking of making some,” the blonde glanced pointedly at the girl in the bathtub, “but it seems like someone doesn’t want any.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want cookies!” Ayaka protested.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you think, Miss Aono, does she deserve cookies?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari understood what she was getting at. “I don’t know,” she said thoughtfully, “because someone is still breaking the rules.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The tree instantly dissipated into motes of light. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good girl,” Kaede said, smiling at her. “Now come out and get dressed and you can watch me bake the cookies, okay? If you’re really good, I’ll even let you help.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay!” Ayaka said gleefully, scrambling out of the tub. Mari caught her as she tried to run past, towel in the other hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry,” the older sister said, aggressively rubbing the towel against Ayaka’s head, the girl squawking in protest. “She really is a bit of a handful.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kaede shrugged. “I’ve handled much worse. Believe me, it isn’t a problem.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m all dry!” Ayaka yelped, voice muffled by the towel. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Giving her a way to tire herself out might be good, too,” Kaede said contemplatively as Mari released the girl, Ayaka running to the bedroom in order to set a speed record for getting dressed. “I’ll try and figure something out.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Mari said gratefully. “Let me know if you need help, and I’ll do whatever it is you need.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Will do,” Kaede said agreeably. “I’ll be seeing you later, Miss Aono.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was Mari’s first interaction with Kaede Suzuki, the girl who would serve as Ayaka’s babysitter for the next few years. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Bluebell Inferno</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Canonical exploration of Sayaka's thoughts post 2.1.3.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <b>Bluebell Inferno </b>
</h1><p>
  <span>Sayaka stared at the boy in disbelief. “Say that again, Kiba.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He tried to kill you,” her red-headed teammate said bluntly, all traces of his usual humor and silliness gone. He was standing in front of her, pacing back and forth and clenching his fists sporadically. Though the sun was high in the air, Sayaka hadn’t bothered to turn any lights on, and her curtains were closed shut, bathing the room in darkness. With their superhuman sight, though, each could see the other clearly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sitting on the couch in her living room, her house unusually clean for once, Sayaka involuntarily touched her neck. She hadn’t remembered the injury, but according to Kiba, her childhood rival and friend Yuki had torn it open.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He couldn’t have...” she whispered, but trailed off as she remembered the cold look in his eyes and the complete lack of hesitation as he reached forward and crushed her wrist in an iron grip.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her determination had fled her then, washed away by the white-hot pain that had burned through her body. She had been injured before, of course, but never like that. Never so purposefully. She’d known that it would happen eventually — such injuries weren’t infrequent in the course of combat — but knowledge was different than experience. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She had not been ready. That had been made abundantly clear to her. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>‘And if you weren’t ready for this then you shouldn’t have signed up for it! I told you, didn’t I? I told you way back when that you should quit if you weren’t sure!’</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>She had thought she’d been sure. She had thought she’d been ready. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She...had been wrong. Instead of leading her team to victory, she’d been a liability. Her failure to defeat Yuki had led to Kiba’s loss against him and Mari, and Yuki had gone on to contribute to her other teammate’s defeat, even if he’d played a fairly minor role.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The teammate in question, the Sparkweaver Rei — he’d admitted that his loss was his own error, that he had been inattentive and made an amateur mistake, but it was still her fault. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And now, she knew, it was her responsibility. Rei wasn’t here, but another of her teammates was, and that would have to be enough for now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Sorry, Kiba.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dark eyes widened in surprise. “No. No, Sayaka, you do not have anything to apologize for. If I had been stronger, then—” he cut himself off, eyes flashing with malice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am the leader,” Sayaka said without inflection. “I triumph in your successes, and take responsibility for your failures. I have let you down—” she raised a hand as he opened his mouth to protest, “so now I must take responsibility.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hikaru Kozakura’s healing prowess had erased the injuries as if they had never been there, but both of them remembered what it was like to lose, and neither of them would forget anytime soon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get Rei,” Sayaka ordered. “We will train so that we never ever lose again. Not to them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiba studied her for a moment, then grinned brightly, dropping to one knee. “As you command, my lady.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get up, you idiot,” she said, suppressing a small smile and not entirely succeeding. “Hurry and go get him so we can start.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going, I’m going...” he said cheerfully, jogging out of the house and towards their teammate’s home. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now alone, Sayaka leaned back into her seat, staring emptily up at her ceiling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She remembered the horror she’d felt when she’d instinctively cut off Yuki’s hand at the wrist, her experimental technique performing exactly as well as she’d thought it would. She remembered the way he’d barely even noticed, as if losing a limb wasn’t anything of consequence to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Is that the level I have to aspire to,</span>
  </em>
  <span> she thought morosely, </span>
  <em>
    <span>in order to match you? What kind of trauma do you have to go through to develop that kind of twisted mindset?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Slowly, a familiar feeling burned through her as she closed her eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll get stronger,” Sayaka whispered to herself. “I’m going to get strong enough so that I don’t lose anymore.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wind began to swirl in the apartment, her mana roused by the feelings surging inside of her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And he won’t know what hit him.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sayaka opened her eyes, sapphire irises gleaming with mana and heart filled with resolve. A gust of wind snatched a notebook off her kitchen table, her hand rising to catch the book filled with her handwriting. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Mastery level original technique — Turbulent Air. </span>
  </em>
  
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. A Brief Oral History of Lunaria, I</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This is exactly what it sounds like.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <b>Chapter One: Altheria</b>
</h1><p>
  <span>???: Testing, testing...hello? This thing working? Neat. Well, if someone listens to this one day, I hope you’re having a good day. I’m Mari Aono, and this is — hey! Quit it! </span>
</p><p>
  <span>(In the background, there is some shuffling followed by some feminine laughter.) </span>
</p><p>
  <span>???: Lightbringer, you sound like such a dork! </span>
</p><p>
  <span>(Footsteps are clearly distinct, slowly growing closer to the source of the voice.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Leona, I won this recording crystal fair and square! You said I could do whatever I wanted with it!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: What are you doing with it, by the way?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: I thought I’d, uh, record a bit of...my knowledge onto it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: You have knowledge? Of what?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: What else? History!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Wait, seriously?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Uh-huh. Wanna watch? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: History of what?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Lunaria. Well, I’ll probably go a bit more back. I’ll talk about Arcacia, too, and Auroria...and I’ll talk about Altheria briefly, but that’s a bit far back. Even I don’t know that much about that kind of thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Alright, I guess I’ll watch. Where’ll you start? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Hm...how about 1500 years ago? That should be as far as I need to go to provide the necessary context for Lunaria’s formation. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: You’re the boss, boss.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(An exasperated but fond sigh follows.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Well, the world has been filled with energy for as long as our records show. Ambient energy — we’ll call that mana, for now — was known even to our early ancestors. However, our ancestors, which we’ll call Altherians, weren’t able to manipulate this mana well at all. However, they needed power for a reason I’ll get into shortly, and so they learned how to manipulate their very lifeforce, or Etheria. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: So our great great great great...many greats, great grandparents used their life instead of the mana that you and I use now?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Correct. So they didn’t live that long, either. Most of them wouldn’t even hit fifty. That had some negative effects on society, but that isn’t too important. What’s important is that by using their Etheria, they could perform what we modernly call an Invocation. And the people who would use this Etheria were called Conduits. Back then, nearly everyone had the potential to be a Conduit! But the people who became Conduits died quickly — like I said, about fifty. But there was a lot of demand from society for people to become conduits. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: The monsters, right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Kind of. I’ll get to those shortly, because they came after the Conduits. Anyways, by using Invocations, these Conduits could create minor miracles — make a pool of water where there hadn’t been one, light a fire with nothing but your life, or create a spear of mythical power to hunt with. And in exchange they would burn away their lives. But these Conduits were treasured by society for that same power! </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: But I thought anyone could become a Conduit?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: No, most people had the potential to be one. At the beginning, there weren’t that many. It was hard work, painful, and, of course, you burned away your life. And it was super inefficient at the start, too! You could lose a decade of life for a small miracle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Yeesh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Exactly. But used correctly, even a minor miracle could be life changing. Think about it. A source of water could turn a previously inhospitable land fertile. You could create an actual community, a real town, just with a few miracles! And some people were born with unusual talent. We call them Guardians. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Let me guess. Class system?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Precisely. Conduits became important, and the secret to becoming one was jealously guarded. Communities formed and began to grow around them, and the populace was...eh. I don’t want to say happy. The Conduits and Guardians were happy, but since they died often, well, times were a bit tumultuous. There was a lot of in-house fighting as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Not to mention that people could turn themselves into weapons of war.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Yep! That simultaneously provoked and dampened war. On the one hand, everyone wants more resources, but on the other, an arms race hurts everyone, and something like crushing a small community with superior numbers could be really dangerous. Even a group of small Conduits, provided the right motivation, could be super dangerous if they had the will. So...no one really wanted to fight, especially over anything unimportant. No, what people did was isolate themselves as much as they could, spreading out over the continent and growing clans. And within these clans, training to make Conduits more efficient began to get put into place. Education. Still secret to maintain a class barrier, but it became quietly formalized nonetheless.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: And that’s when the monsters came in?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Yep! So the fauna and flora of the world have always been a little bit magical because of all the mana in the air, right? The high concentration of Conduits living together in one place, using their Etheria...eventually led to the creation of Flux.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Which is where the monsters came from.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Yes, Leona, that’s where the monsters came from. Or, more accurately, the existing flora and fauna became corrupted. Suitably, we called them the Corrupted. Still, with the availability of Conduits, they weren’t threats, at first.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: But...wait, isn’t that a problem? The only counter to the Corrupted were the Conduits, but weren’t the Conduits the reason that the Corrupted were a problem?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: I won’t say the only counter, but by far the most widely available, yes. So the problem got worse, and got worse quickly. Eventually, extremely powerful beasts called the Drowned began to form, usually alongside the formation of Flux, and they were genuine threats to entire clans. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: They were just powerful animals and plants though, right? Why were they a problem?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Because they had intellect. And certain Drowned could even use magic. Dragons are mythical creatures to us, right? Their bodies can’t support themselves. But in the Dark Ages, dragons were much more real, and just as threatening as you can imagine. An intelligent, massive beast with the power of flight, corrupted magic, and sheer conceptual weight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Wait, really? Wow. Uh, but dragons are still at least a little real. Remember?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(Silence follows for a few moments.) </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: That woman doesn’t count. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: But—</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Anyways, where was I? Right, so the Corrupted and Drowned started showing up. After some time, clans began to recognize them as a superior threat over anything else, and began sharing knowledge, information, and even people in order to help combat them. There simply wasn’t any room to fight each other because everyone would die. Well, I’m sure there was some fighting, but mostly everyone was concentrated on the threat that could wipe out everyone in the country. They began figuring out the secrets of the Corrupted — how Flux occurred, and how to safely dispose of it. With that innovation, clans could stop roaming as much, and larger communities rapidly formed in order to keep out the encroaching darkness.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: The ‘encroaching darkness’? Really?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Hush, you. Anyways, as the communities grew and as more knowledge was shared, people realized they needed something that wasn’t so Etheria-reliant, something that wouldn’t corrupt the land. Because things had just been getting steadily worse over time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Oh, this I know. That’s when the runic system was invented, right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Yes, Runes! Though they weren’t called that at the time. Those drew on the mana in the air to produce certain effects. Their actual creation involved Etheria, but they were reusable. Of course, such a system would take quite some time to develop, and the situation was getting worse really fast. So they fled the country.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: And became the Arcacians, right? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Precisely. South of Altheria is the country modernly called Arcacia. But fleeing through the Corrupted lands of Altheria had caused massive casualties, and to survive, the survivors had to band together. They created a treaty that ensured that Etheria usage would only be allowed in the most direst of circumstances and emergencies. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Otherwise they would’ve had the same problems again, right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Yup. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: But some people stayed in Altheria, right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: That they did! But we’ll return to them later. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: And on that note, I think you should return to this later, too. Hey, what’s that?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Huh?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(The sound of a quick scuffle ensues, then the sound of loud footsteps. It is evident that the holder of the recording crystal is now fleeing.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Hey! Get back here!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(Her voice is fainter than it was before.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Catch me if you can! Oh, wait, I should probably— </span>
</p><p>
  <span>(The first recording ends here.) </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. A Brief Oral History of Lunaria, II</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <b>Chapter Two: Arcacia</b>
</h1><p>
  <span>Mari: Test, test...yes, everything looks good. How’re you doing back there, Leona?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(Some muffled protesting is faintly audible. However, no words can be made out.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: She’s in time-out. Now, where were we? Ah, Arcacia. The first thing they began doing after fleeing over the border and making their treaty was to construct the Great Wall, a powerful physical and magical barrier which would eventually seal off the Northern border completely. That took a long time, though, and the Corrupted weren’t just going to watch them do it. So that took some time. Still, it was eventually completed, since Arcacia was rich in natural resources and — what the—</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(A great deal of scuffling is audible in the background before a shouted incantation follows.) </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Gah, you’re heavier than you look. Stupid boobs. Uh, let’s see...a spell to bind. Maybe...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(Another incantation follows, a bit distant from the recording crystal.) </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: And now to wake you up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: W-What...Leona? Why...uh, why can’t I move?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Magic, dummy. That or I broke your spine. Wiggle your toes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Toes wiggling. Guess my spine’s safe for now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: I’m inclined to agree. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: So why am I stuck here, again? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Because you don’t get to tell the story of my — urgh — of my people without me. As punishment for trying, you get to sit there and I get to tell everyone all the interesting stuff!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: At least stay on topic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Oh, I will. Anyways, let’s see. Right! One of the biggest aspects of Arcacia is how we’re all sun-loving worshippers. And that came as a direct consequence of the Corrupted! With their weird alien — or perhaps natural — intelligence, they often attacked at night. So the day was associated with safety. And with the day came the sun. which banished the night...well, you get the idea. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Makes sense.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Uh huh. Anyways, all the communities eventually merged. Everyone was used to working together, after all, and they still needed to in order to finish the Great Wall. Conduits and Guardians were less important nowadays because they weren’t allowed to use their Etheria, but they still had fame since they tended to be the war heroes from Altheria. So they became the nobility of the current system. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Gross.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Yup. Well, they weren’t really safe yet, especially while the Wall was still being constructed. As you might imagine, they started trying to find ways to fight supernatural creatures without warping the world around them. Runes were one of the ideas explored, and that eventually led to the predecessor of wands. They were just little sticks of mana-conductive materials with runes etched into them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Actually, that’s something I’ve never understood. Runes work because of, um, conceptual weight, right? Because such a large population of magic-users believe in the power of the words, the magic has adapted to be shaped whenever those words are invoked, right? And the same with Formalcast? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Correct. Why do you — oh, I see. You’re wondering how that happened in the first place, since that conceptual weight wouldn’t have existed at the time of origin, right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: I...think I follow. Yes, that’s what I’m asking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Well, that’s something we actually don’t know. The prevailing theory, though, is that they used Etheria to imprint it upon Arcacia’s magic. It must have taken a massive amount of Etheria...but, well, that’s the most popular theory. Anyways, whatever their origin, runes were brought into being, and thus began the outlines of the Official Arcacian Spellcasting System, or Formalcraft. But what do you think was a really big problem with it?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Hm...if you used runes to make those wands, you could only cast one type of spell per wand, right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Precisely. There were other issues, too, like the runic system being based off of a slightly older language and a little more challenging to understand. That hasn’t aged well, incidentally. Runes to Altherians were simple and easy — to Arcacians, who had lost a lot of knowledge in the transition, a bit less so. Not to mention that there were several generations separating the origin of runes from their users. And there were plenty of subcultures back during Altherian’s time, too, so that created even more linguistic tangles. Basically, modernly? Runes are a mess. That was all they had back then, though, but they never did get very good at it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: That bad?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: There’s a reason runes are still poorly understood almost a millennium later. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: I see. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: And that brings us to the more recent past. A little over six hundred years ago, explorations into manipulating the external mana in the air finally bore fruit, and the first magical focus was fused with magically conducive materials to become a proper wand. Now, only runes to help maintain upkeep of the wand and smoothen out its channelling are necessary for its function. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: That’s the crystals on your wands, right? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Yep. You want to guess why crystals?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: ...Light?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Got it in one. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: ...Seriously?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Seriously. And if you hate that, wait until you hear about the Principle of Magical Value. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Wait, I’ve heard about that. Um...’the more valuable a material is perceived to be, the stronger its sympathetic effects’, right? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Yes. The inverse is also true — if a material isn’t judged as valuable to the user, then its sympathetic effects are weaker too. In other words, magi managed to ensure that they were reliant on rare and valuable crystals to bring out the best of their magic. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: That is unspeakably stupid. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Yeah, well, welcome to Arcacia. Now where was I? Ah, wands. It turned out that the descendants of the former Guardians and Conduits, or the nobles, were generally the best suited at manipulating mana with the wands. Not the only ones, but they were the best at it, and so the class system was maintained by turning that into a massive secret that is maintained to this very damn day. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Wait, so you mean the only thing that separates your nobles and commoners is that the latter don’t know that they can actually be trained to use magic?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Pretty much. And the secret’s been kept fairly well, mostly because it’s completely illegal to spread it and anyone who finds out gets killed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: That’s awful!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Welcome to Arcacia. Eventually, that Principle of Magical Value I talked about became reality thanks to the imprintable nature of Arcacian magic, and, well, it’s more than just a class divide now. There’s actually just not enough resources to support more magi.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: So that’s why... </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Yes. Lunaria — which I’ll let you cover — is rich in the types of crystals magi need. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Well, if we’re already at wands, then I guess we’re just about at the Great Divide?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Yep. Not every noble and certainly not every commoner liked the Wanded system one bit. Reasons varied. Some thought that the use of magic should be a prestigious skill, and that the Wanded system cheapened it. Others realized that using Wanded magic was simply inefficient and weak, which certainly has a bit of truth to it. What you have to understand is that magic and spirituality were and still are a huge core part of Arcacian culture and was treated with reverence. Allegations such as the Wanded system being unnatural were actually taken seriously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: And then they got branded as heretics by the nobles trying to remain in power. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Yup. And those are the people you know now to be Lunarians. After an intense political conflict that nearly resulted in civil war and did lead to plenty of fatalities, most of the pre-Lunarians departed Arcacia, moved far to the South, and created their own country, Lunaria. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Ooh, ooh, my turn, right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Uh, yeah, I guess so. I don’t know your history well enough to lecture confidently on it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Great. Can you let me go, then?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Sure. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mari: Thanks. But before we continue, you know I can’t just let that go unpunished, right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>(The sharp crackle of electricity is audible in the background.) </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leona: Um...we can talk about this.</span>
</p><p>
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